


Scars Discolour But Don't Fade

by Hino



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Also mild discussion of Benry's past deaths, Gen, It's Frenry if you want it to be, Mentions of scars and wounds, Or a display of weakness and seeking comfort if not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:53:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25800892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hino/pseuds/Hino
Summary: Shedding clothes, the two of them wear their vulnerabilities, veiled only in bathroom steam
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	Scars Discolour But Don't Fade

The steam of the shower fogs the air and thickens it, making it heavy in lungs. Benry sits in the bathtub, shower head angled on him and pouring boiling water across his skin. It cascades off him and into the bathtub, slowly filling and becoming lukewarm as the cold porcelain saps the heat.

Gordon stands there, unsure. It had started as him insisting Benry shower after a week straight of the same ratty outfit, turned into an argument of "I'll do it if you do bro" and ended with both of them naked in the bathroom with only the heat of the water to mask the blushes on their cheeks.

"You uh, gonna stand there?" Benry asks as he looks at Gordon. The man's without his glasses, and clothes, obviously. But that means that Benry can see the scars that litter the man's body, born from cuts and scrapes that the HEV suit in all its glory could not shield.

Gordon catches himself, somewhat dazed. "Yeah," he answers, looking at Benry. His helmet usually covers the short greasy mane of hair on his head, now slicked with the water. It also hides the scars along his neck and behind his ears, and his now-absent uniform did a fine job at obscuring the remnants of his deaths, be it crushed in half or shot to death.

The two of them look at each other in the foggy bathroom, at an impasse, and it is Benry who breaks it with the first motion. He shuffles back in the bath, water sloshing as he moves through it. The scalding water hits the shallow pool with a sound like rain, which contrasts the brilliant sky outside.

It takes a moment but Gordon does move. He steps into the heated stream and winces at the temperature, sparing a moment to add just a fraction of cold water. It becomes somewhat pleasant and he enters, finding it odd how he looms above Benry who seems content to sit.

"Got soap?" Gordon asks for lack of a better word.

Benry holds up a partially chewed bar. Gordon sighs and leans out to grab another bar from the bathroom sink. It makes the other's eyes light up. "Snacking?"

"It's to clean," comes the answer. Gordon places the bar under the stream and then begins to lather himself. The bubbles come soon, and Benry slowly copies the action, watching the water become milky as the bar slowly blends with the bathwater that only grows.

The bar glides over Benry's skin slowly, like a child playing. It slides along scars and rubs circles on bullet wounds and the deep red mark where he's been cut in half by a door is tended to with what starts as playfulness and becomes obsession, as if trying to scrub the wound away.

"That's enough."

Benry's hand is halted by Gordon's own. He squeezes his eyes shut. "Don't like it."

"It doesn't make it go away." Gordon settles his right hand on Benry's shoulder. It makes him open his eyes, gaze trailing along the jagged discolouration that marks the removal and subsequent reattachment of his hand. It's as close as a connection as they'll have in terms of bodily changes and subsequent traumas, and that somehow breaks Benry. He throws himself at Gordon, almost knocking the man off his feet as the water splashes up and beyond the bath's rim.

Tightly Gordon holds him, hands tracing along Benry's back, fingers avoiding deep gouges in flesh as he tries to soothe him. Benry in turn focuses on the lines that run along Gordon's back, losing himself in scar after scar.

They stay there together, interlocked in a search for comfort long after the water goes cold and the steam clears to reveal their thoroughly flooded bathroom.


End file.
